“Rent ”Music Director Reveals the Surprising Song Jonathan Larson Originally Wanted to Open the Musical (Exclusive)

Meredith WilshereSun, May 17, 2026 at 5:58 PM UTC

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The cast of Rent performing on 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno' in November 1996
Credit: Margaret Norton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty -

Jonathan Larson originally wanted Rent to open with the song "Halloween"

Larson wrote multiple versions of "Halloween," but they ultimately decided to keep it in the second act

Music director Tim Weil recalls Larson as a brilliant artist and remembers the impact of his final song, "Take Me or Leave Me"

Rent's opening scene almost looked — and sounded — completely different.

Tim Weil, the original music director of Rent, tells PEOPLE there was one song Jonathan Larson really wanted to open the show, which would have changed the musical's entire concept.

“There's a song in the show called ‘Halloween' which Mark sings in the second act. Originally, that was Jonathan's idea for the opening of the show, a version of 'Halloween,' and then the story becomes told in flashback,” Weil, 67, shares.

In the introspective song, narrator and protagonist Mark Cohen — portrayed on Broadway by Anthony Rapp — sings about all the events of the show leading up to that moment, including the death of his friend Angel.

Larson wrote the music, book, and lyrics for the show, writing hundreds of songs that dwindled to the show's final 42.

Jonathan Larson
Credit: Library of Congress

Weil says Larson felt strongly about leading with the song, but couldn't find a way to make it work, no matter how hard he tried.

“Jonathan must've written at least a dozen versions of 'Halloween' and none of them worked, but he was still doggedly chasing it,” Weil recalls.

One morning in January 1996, Weil says Larson called him very early, which was not like the late composer. According to Weil, Larson said, “You'll never believe it. I got it. I figured it out. I got the 'Halloween' for the opening.”

“I said, ‘Great, can't wait to see it,'" he recalls. "I get over to the theater, and Jonathan goes over to the theater, and I go, ‘Let's see it.' He's like, ‘Eh, no, I threw it away on the way over.' "

"I think it was at that moment when he just went, 'It's not for a lack of trying. It's just not happening. So we'll fix it in previews.' That was the idea,” Weil shares.

Tim Weil poses during an event for his new book "Making RENT: The Story Behind The Music That Changed Broadway"
Credit: Bruce Glikas/Getty

However, Larson died the night of the final rehearsalandjust one day before Rent's first Off-Broadway preview performance, at the age of 35, from an aortic dissection, believed to have been caused by undiagnosed Marfan syndrome.

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A final version of "Halloween" made it into the show, but remained in the second act. Instead, the show opens on Christmas Eve with the song "Tune Up #1," taking place chronologically over the course of one year.

In addition to Rapp, the original Broadway cast included Adam Pascal, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Idina Menzel, Taye Diggs, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Jesse L. Martin and Fredi Walker.

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While Larson died before seeing the show skyrocket to success, Weil still remembers their time together vividly.

One of the greatest moments from their time working together, for Weil, was when Larson played him "Take Me or Leave Me," which he says was the last song Larson wrote.

“He brought it in that afternoon and played it over the sound system, and I couldn't believe what was coming out of that speaker," Weil shares. "I mean, it's one of those things I remember it like it was last week."

As the music director, Weil notes that "you work for and with the composer," so he and Larson spent lots of time together.

“That's the way I see the job, but we had very similar tastes, and we were on such great footing together from the jump. The things that happened during the course of rehearsal, yeah, there's some good and there's some less good and a little bit of conflict, and you mediate, and you figure it out, and you solve problems, you come up with creative solutions to creative problems,” Weil shares.

All in all, Weil remembers Larson as “such a good guy.”

“He was funny and brilliant and he was a great artist. He was a great composer, he was a great lyricist as a craftsman, and a great songwriter. He was all that."

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”